NATION NEWS  – A Government-offered Laptop for every child of school age, more funding of social programmes by the utility companies and a better deal for top sports people.
Government backbencher Hamilton Lashley made these suggestions in the House of Assembly yesterday.
The St Michael South East Member of Parliament also called for the building of a drama industry for senior citizens and for Rastafarians to be “fully embraced” in the “spirit of nation-building”.
The former Minister of Social Transformation said that in this technology-driven age, “every child of school age should be given a laptop to carry home”.
He told parliamentarians this was already happening in neighbouring countries such as Guyana and Antigua.
Lashley said both the Telephone Company and the Barbados Light & Power Company, which were “raking in millions and millions of dollars every year”, should be pumping more cash into social programmes. “ . . . What about Operation Put Back?” he asked.
Lashley also complained about the treatment of top sports people. He said “no person who has represented this country in whatever sporting discipline or cultural discipline should be struggling to get a job in this country”.
Employers “should engage them forever”, he suggested.
Recently World Go-As-You-Please draughts champion Ronald “Suki” King and athlete Jade Bailey complained of difficulties in getting sponsorship.
Lashley, who usually refers to himself as “The Rastaman from The Pine”, also suggested that Rastafarians be given “a greater stake in the national pie” and that Government help elderly people with an eye on drama through developing “a drama industry”.
Lashley made the suggestions when the House resumed debate on a resolution “to take note of and approve” the Government’s Human Resource Development Strategy 2011-16.